More than one million people rallied behind Turkey’s Government in Istanbul on Sunday, three weeks after a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan told the “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally”, held at the Yenikapi parade ground, that the defeat of the July 15 coup would be historic in its building of a stronger Turkey:
For the first time in decades, opposition leaders joined a Government rally. People waved Turkish flags and held banners such as “You are a Gift from God, Erdoğan” and “Order Us to Die and We Will Do It”. The event was broadcast live on public screens at smaller rallies across Turkey’s 81 provinces.
The President indicated that his crackdown, which has already led to more than 60,000 detentions and suspensions of State employees, would continue:
That night, our enemies who were rubbing their hands in anticipation of Turkey’s downfall woke up the next morning to the grief that things would be more difficult from now on.
From now on, we will examine very carefully who we have under us. We will see who we have in the military, who we have in the judiciary, and throw the others out of the door.
Erdoğan said he would crush the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom he blames for the coup. The President repeated that he would approve the restoration of the death penalty if Parliament voted for it.
The Chief of General Staff, Hulusi Akar — who was held hostage by anti-Government troops on the night of the coup — supported the President with the promise that the “traitors” behind the plot would be punished, thanking civilians for their role in defeating the uprising.
Almost 150 generals and admirals — 42% of the total in the armed forces — have been dismissed, and more than 30 are to stand trial.
The leader of the main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said that a “new door of compromise” had been opened and that politics must be kept out of the mosques, courthouses, and barracks.
“There is a new Turkey after July 15,” he said.
